Whilst the one-day competitions kick-on in the foreground, the County Championship continues to bubble on, moving in to its seventh week. This means First Team Scorer Roger `The Duke’ Marshall has to be on the ball to land some correct predictions against a challenger from the cricketing world.
Ahead of each round of fixtures, he will be pitched against a Nottinghamshire illuminary in a prediction challenge. You can join in by tweeting your predictions with the hashtag #BeatTheDuke with prizes on offer for competitors and champion tipsters.
This week brings a quieter week in the main format of the summer with just two games being played across the first division. These see undefeated Middlesex travel to fellow high-fliers Durham whilst another undefeated team, Sussex, play host to Somerset, the cidermen yet to register their first to win of the campaign.
The Challenger- George Dobell
A regular in press boxes across the county scene and around the world, George Dobell knows his cricket. Having owned Spin magazine and broken cricket stories in national newspapers, he is now senior correspondent for ESPNcricinfo and will be hoping to utilise his knowledge to topple `The Duke' in this week’s challenge.
The Challenger’s Predictions
Durham v Middlesex
I will go for a Middlesex win for this one as they seem to be playing a little better on their early season form. They have a better bowling unit than Durham and in their batting Sam Robson is a fantastic player.
Sussex v Somerset
Reluctantly I will go for Sussex here, despite being a Somerset fan. Somerset are struggling and look to be in a negative spiral at the moment.
The Duke’s Predictions
Durham v Middlesex
Both sides have had a good start to the season and this should be a close game. However, with home advantage I think that Durham have the edge in this one. Durham win.
Sussex v Somerset
This game is the first game at Horsham of the 2013 season. Looking at last year’s results, Sussex had good fortunes at the out ground. However, this is hard to predict and with a pitch that normally breaks up towards the end of the game, it could be down to the side that has the better spinners. Despite this, Sussex should have the stronger side and get the win.
Previous Round
Last week saw a battle within the family with `The Duke’ coming out on top predicting two correct results, with his son Richard managing one correct score.
League Table
| Score | Challenger |
|---|---|
| 2 | Peter Wynne-Thomas |
| 1.3 (average score) | Roger Marshall |
| 1 | Andy Afford, Rob Dorsett, Colin Hazelden, Richard Marshall |
| 0 | Bilal Shafayat |